Of Babysitting and Questions About Fathers
by swanglade37
Summary: Lucy is talked into babysitting Nathan, and James is dragged along with her. The conversation that follows is an important one. A very important one. My first venture into Haven.


**Word Count: 1634**

To be honest, James Cogan and Garland Wuornos didn't really talk. The only thing they had in common was Lucy, but when she was busy they tended to go their separate ways. Garland knew that James was Lucy's (Sarah's) son, a fact kept secret if only because Haven was a gossip mill and explaining it would only bring doubt about Lucy's past. If there was one thing that Garland and James had in common, it was that Lucy needed to stay as pristine in the town's view as possible. If the Troubled didn't trust her, they wouldn't let her help them, and Lucy was better with the Troubled than anybody else. James could sub for her if she was _really_ incapacitated, but that had happened… once? It took a lot to keep Lucy down. But I digress.

The point was, Garland and James had very little in common. However, the issue of childcare was one thing they (sort of) agreed on: kids needed to be with their parents as much as possible. In the case of Duke Crocker, they all trusted Vanessa Stanley more than Simon Crocker and Marie Foyle combined.

After Gwen died, Vanessa would babysit both Duke and Garland's (Gwen's) son, Nathan, when Garland was gone and Duke and Nathan were in a 'friend' phase. For reasons unknown to James, even though he knew her and already adored her, Lucy would always refuse to babysit Nathan. It was clear to James (and Arla, for that matter) that she adored him just as much, but she always regretfully declined when he begged her to babysit instead of the teenagers Garland would try, giving him the sort of longing look a widowed grandparent might give a grandchild who resembled the spouse they had lost, like _I want to love you like them, but you will never be them, and I need to remember that._ James often wondered if a previous incarnation of Lucy had known an ancestor of Nathan's, but he'd never asked. It turned out, he'd find out, though.

It was a rainy Saturday evening. Garland was on a stakeout, and Nathan had already been at home alone longer than any eight-year-old should be. Garland had contacted Lucy, explaining that it was too short notice to get an actual babysitter and would she _please watch Nathan because the kid adored her and he was only_ eight _for crying out loud._ Verbatim, there was more swearing involved, but the general meaning was the same. So it was under these circumstances that Lucy called James in a panic because she had an article to write.

"Calm down, Mom." James said. It was rare that _he_ was the one calming _her_ down, but tonight was special. "Let's do it like this. Arla's still in Colorado catching up with her friends. If I come with you, I can be backup if the writing bug hits. And as Garland probably already mentioned, Nathan adores you and will most likely behave more than he would if any average high schooler showed up. Okay?"

He could hear Lucy taking a deep breath. "Okay. See you soon, James."

"See you soon, Mom." After he hung up, he had to restrain himself from going a victory dance. He'd known that he had the 'calm down, it's gonna be all right' genes somewhere, but he rarely had to use them, because Lucy was so _good_ at helping the Troubled. He ran through the rain to his car, and soon he was pulling up to Garland's house. Lucy's red Volkswagen was proof that she had beat him here (unsurprising, since she was closer).

Dodging the raindrops, he ran up to the porch and knocked on the door. Lucy opened it almost immediately, with Nathan clutching her leg. She ushered him in immediately.

"Oh, good, you're here-Nathan, honey, I need you to let go of me, or I'm going to trip."

With obvious reluctance, the eight-year-old let go of her and glanced curiously up at James. James had a sudden feeling of self-consciousness, the kind he felt when Paul found him in a T-shirt when he was supposed to be in a suit and tie. For whatever reason, James cared deeply whether this eight-year-old kid liked him or not. Disconcerted, he pushed the feeling down and devoted the next few hours to keeping Nathan happy. They had pancakes for dinner and then watched some Sesame Street. He felt that he was doing a pretty good job until Lucy's old boss called.

James had never met the editor of the newspaper Lucy's worked at before she'd been transferred to the _Haven Herald_ , but from Lucy's stories he was _very_ strict and critical of everyone's writing. If an article wasn't up to par, it was cut, no matter the author's popularity with the readers. It just didn't make sense why he was calling. Lucy didn't work for him anymore; she worked for the Teagues brothers. Unfortunately, he called right before Nathan's bedtime, so James had to put the kid to bed by himself.

He managed… sort of. It took three assurances that Lucy would come back, plus a promise that they'd tell Garland he wanted pancakes for breakfast in the morning, and even after all that, the kid pledged he'd stay awake until Lucy was done. Half and hour later, Nathan was correct. He had indeed stayed awake long enough for Lucy to say goodnight.

After Nathan _finally_ fell asleep, Lucy made some hot chocolate; James finally got the chance to ask her the question that had been on his mind all evening. "Mom?"

"Hmm?" Lucy looked up from her notebook.

"Do-do you know who my father is?"

Lucy froze. She didn't speak for a minute, seemingly considering her words carefully, a rarity for her. She was the type to speak her mind, consequences be damned. "James, I told you. I don't have all of Sarah's memories, and she never told Vince or Dave. No, I don't know."

"But you have a theory." It wasn't a question and they both knew it.

"Yes."

"You think he's Nathan. That's why you won't babysit him, even though he loves you-oh my god. He loves you _now_ , which means-"

"It's very likely that he could find it in himself to love Sarah in another time." Lucy finished for him. He nodded, a little dumbfounded. "But there's a problem with my theory, James, and we both know it."

"Nathan wasn't born until '75. Logically, Sarah was still in the Barn when he was born. So he couldn't be my father." This was the only hole in Lucy's theory, one he hated to poke.

Lucy shook her head. "There's a way."

"How?"

"There's a man in town named Stuart Mosley. I've never visited him, and for a very good reason."

"What reason?" James was desperate to hear all of Lucy's proof. Ever since he'd found out that Paul and June weren't his real parents (they'd told him when he was seven), he'd had this yearning, for lack of a better word, to find his birth parents. When he'd found Lucy, that was half the puzzle solved, and he'd at once assumed that she knew who his father was. She didn't, not when he first asked her. But now…

"Stuart can make people travel in time. He was Sarah's first case. She never knew if he could time travel himself, or just send others."

"So if, in twenty-seven years, Nathan encounters Stuart, he might recognize him, thereby sending Nathan to the time Stuart recognizes him from, which could have been '55, giving Nathan the chance to… you know… with Sarah. They'd be about the same age then, and if Nathan falls in love with the next you, it probably wouldn't take a great deal of convincing for me to exist." James summarized.

"Right, which reminds me. There's something I've been meaning to talk with you about."

"What is it, Mom?"

"When I come back in twenty-seven years, will you find me? Between you, me, and Garland, we've found out a lot about the Barn, possibly more than any me has before us. I don't want all that knowledge to be lost. Promise me that you'll find her, and tell her everything. Please, James." By the time she finished, she was sounding more worried than he'd ever heard her before. He laid a hand in hers.

"You don't have to worry, Mom. Arla and I are going to head back to Colorado after the Barn, but we'll come back in twenty-seven years. I promise."

Lucy visibly relaxed. "Thank you." Her gratitude was as sincere as he'd ever heard it. They stopped talking after that, and the next thing James knew, it was morning and the little boy who could quite possibly grow up to be his father was poking him asking for pancakes.

It was only a few weeks after the babysitting experience that James was murdered. Twenty-seven years later, he was finally given closure over the daddy-question. He doubted that Nathan remembered the night he and Lucy had babysat him, and he never got to tell him. In the end, he found it a little ironic that the only time he, his mother, and his father were in the same house, he was less than ten years younger than his mother and his father was younger than both again. The Troubles really screwed his family up, but without them he wouldn't exist. He was never quite sure how he felt about that.

A few years later, after Arla accidentally killed him and his grandfather resurrected him, his last wish was finally granted: for himself and his parents to be a family. A real family. It only took four of his mother's lifetimes in which his father had loved her, but they'd finally made it.

 **Okay, I have no idea where this went. It started out as an actual story that made sense, I swear. Anyway,** What Lucy Knows **by TRDowden1 loosely inspired this fic.**

 **Canonically speaking, we don't know when Nathan's mother died, nor how much the Chief was away when Nathan was growing up, nor if Lucy had any interaction with eight-year-old Nathan. We don't know Nathan's or Duke's mother's names or what car Lucy drove. I took a lot of creative liberties with this. It's my personal opinion, that Lucy was the one who found out the most about the Barn before Audrey, and that James Cogan knew the most after her. I also believe that if Nathan ever met Lucy, he'd be drawn to her, as he was to Sarah, Audrey, and Paige, and because of this, Lucy would have come up with the theory explained above.**

 **I have no idea if anyone will ever read this, but if you do, please give me your opinion of it. How do you like the characterization of Lucy, James, and Nathan?**

 **-swanglade37**


End file.
